Amazing Balloon Photos Show Last Shuttle Launch From the Stratosphere

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The final space shuttle launch made a spectacular arc across the
sky in photos taken from the edge of space by a student balloon
project.

From an altitude of more than 89,000 feet (27,000 meters), the
balloon took photos of NASA's shuttle Atlantis making the final
liftoff of the space shuttle program.
Atlantis blasted off on Friday (July 8) from NASA's Kennedy
Space Center in Florida.

The balloon, nicknamed StratoShuttle-1, is a project of the
California-based Quest for Stars. The organization lets students
help loft balloon-borne experimentsto the edge of space using
relatively cheap, off-the-shelf hardware. [ Gallery:
Stunning Aerial Photos of Last Shuttle Launch ]

"Student involvement was quite heavy," Quest for Stars' founder
Bobby Russell told SPACE.com. "They designed the payload system
that we flew. They not only deigned and built it with their own
hands, they ran the mission control center for it too."

StratoShuttle-1 launched from the Seminole Softball Complex in
Orlando, Fla., and landed in Altoona, Fla., about 45 miles away,
almost three hours later.

The helium-filled
weather balloon was equipped with four high-definition
cameras, three Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, a video
recorder and a complete avionics system.

Both graduated this year, and are heading to college to pursue
aerospace degrees, Russell said.

"Even though they're going off to college, they're still
participating in the design," Russell said. "This is about the
students.

Quest for Stars also launched student balloons to take photos of
NASA's last two shuttle blastoffs. The
balloon Robonaut-1 photographed NASA's final launch of the
shuttle Discovery in February, with the
Senatobia-1 balloon catching views of the last liftoff of
Endeavour in May.

Minor mishaps

The group's latest project captured Atlantis streaking across the
indigo-blue sky. The bright orange of the spaceship's engines
glows as a far-away dot, with a graceful smoke contrail arcing
below it.

But the mission was not without mishap.

"We had a thunderstorm develop over our launch site, and a lot of
water got on our equipment," Russell said. "We lost a video
transmitter because it got hit by water."

The team also had a scare when a storm blew their experiment into
NASA's no-fly zone, a 40-mile radius circle around the space
shuttle launch pad that vehicles are not allowed enter.

Though Russell and the students were "extremely concerned" that
NASA might be forced to shoot down their balloon for safety
reasons, they were reassured when they saw that StratoShuttle-1
was still in the air.

In addition to capturing great views, the mission measured
atmospheric conditions in preparation for a remotely controlled
airplane flight Quest for Stars aims to launch later this summer.

More sky-high views

The StratoShuttle-1 students weren't the only ones who caught a
great view of Atlantis' launch.

High school student Ryan Graff was flying on a Southwest Airlines
jet from Baltimore to Miami when he saw the shuttle lift off,
Huffington Post reported. Graff grabbed his iPhone and
snapped a picture of the zigzagging smoke trail underneath the
shuttle.

Ryan's brother, Chad Graff, posted the photo on Twitter; the
picture has now been viewed more than 91,000 times, according to
Chad.